The Kings Of Leon/Glee conflict nears a fragile accord

The tense war of words between Kings Of Leon and Glee creator Ryan Murphy—easily the most turbulent conflict happening anywhere in the world right now—seems to be moving at last toward gentle armistice, judging by this follow-up interview with Murphy in The Hollywood Reporter. The story so far: After Murphy issued a not-sanitized-for-Gwyneth Paltrow “Fuck you” to the band, implicitly condemning them for denying kids arts education by not allowing their songs to be turned into Adultz Bop renditions on the show, drummer Nathan Followill suggested Murphy should look into less binding undergarments, a sentiment echoed more plainly by Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, who simply stated, “Fuck that guy for thinking anybody and everybody should want to do Glee.”

Back in February, Paltrow herself stepped into the fray, mediating a text-based détente with the same gentle touch she brings to crafting simple springtime snacks, and now it seems Murphy has made that truce official—and pretty much completely reversed his position on everything he said:

“I didn't speak with as much clarity as I would have liked. Who am I to say 'Fuck you?' That's not what I meant. I completely understand when artists don't want a show or another artist to interpret their songs. In fact, I respect it. It's their personal work and I'd feel the same way. We get turned down all the time and I've don't fight it or even go back after a rejection…. I've never felt that if you don't give Glee your music, there's something diabolical about you. To the contrary: I support artists and what they choose to do... I think Kings of Leon are cool as shit. The Foo Fighters are brilliant. We'd love to do one if their songs, if they were ever interested. But if it's not their thing, then OK. I personally wish them luck and will still listen to their music."

As an example of Murphy’s new live-and-let-bands-reject-you approach to life, he points to a recent refusal by Björk, who turned down his request to use one of her songs, and to which Murphy says he replied, “That’s completely cool.” She did, however, encourage him to check back in “down the road” should he have a more suitable script idea, which hopefully means we’ll see a Matthew Barney-inspired episode where Lea Michele is rendered as a Cheetah Woman, Jane Lynch splatters everyone with petroleum jelly, and Matthew Morrison’s testicles ooze out his pants.